The tentacles are washed and freed from their narrow ends. These small pieces can be used for salads or pasta dishes.
The large pieces are placed in a suitable saucepan and covered generously with cold water. This is then slowly warmed up until the water begins to simmer gently. Then the heat has to be reduced so that the tentacles only scald for the rest of the cooking time.
This is one of the secrets why the tentacles turn buttery soft. Another reason is that no other ingredients (especially salt) are added to the water. Otherwise the boiling temperature would be increased unnecessarily.
The strength can be checked with the fork. When the prongs slide easily into the meat, the cooking process can be ended. For me this is usually the case after about two hours.
Meanwhile, boil the potato with its skin in salted water. When it is done, it is set aside and peeled and sliced shortly before serving. The slices are toasted golden brown in a little olive oil (but they can also be served just like that, which would be more authentic).
After the end of the cooking time, remove the tentacles from the brew and let them cool down briefly. If you can safely touch them with your fingers, cut them into small bite-sized slices and arrange them on the plate together with the potato slices.
Then everything is drizzled with plenty of olive oil. The potato slices are sprinkled with the paprika powder to taste. Coarse sea salt is poured over the slices of seafood to counteract a bland impression.
This is the simple and straightforward version of the popular Spanish dish.
I limit the ingredients to the bare minimum. On the one hand, I want to flatter the palate with the unique and as unadulterated squid taste as possible. And on the other hand, I get closer to the traditional way of preparing seafood using the so-called “pulpeiras”, which apart from water, fire and copper kettles usually did not use any other aids for the cooking process.
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